w00t! Wastrel Division is back in business!
Tuesday, February 28
Ninja boots. - via The Red Ferret Journal
Stone Age tribe kills fishermen who strayed on to island
After the fishermen's families raised the alarm, the Indian coastguard tried to recover the bodies using a helicopter but was met by the customary hail of arrows.
Splasho » The Superbrowser
Monday, February 27
Want To Build Your Own Planet?
Here's another link for writers and role-players on creating an Earth-like planet.
I have a few invites left for the Newsvine beta. Please use the feedback link on the right to request one.
Solution Watch » Manage Online Identity with ClaimID
Sunday, February 26
Saturday, February 25
Bissell SpotBot Handsfree Compact Cleaner
I was wandering through the local Target store the other day and noticed another robot cleaning device on the shelf called the SpotBot. This was fortunate timing as we have a small dog who very recently went under the knife for large bladder stones. Over the preceding several weeks she had been having accidents all over the house and we were in need of some robotic assistance.
The unit comes with 2 bottles of solution. One is a regular carpet shampoo, the other is an OxyClean type solution that is supposed to be better at deep cleaning set in stains. The unit has 2 tanks; one for the solution and another to pick up the dirty solution from the carpet. There was only enough in the 2 bottles that came with the unit to fill up the solution tank once.
The device uses an oscillating brush and suction combination to do the work for you. There are two settings; a 3 minute surface stain setting and a 6 minute set-in stain setting. The work area for the brushes is about a 9 inch diameter circle.
I tried the Oxy stuff on a bad stain in the hallway where the bullterrier had marked a wicker box, without success. To be fair, I didn't expect anything to get out wood-stain (we'll have to replace that section.)
The unit worked great for all of the puppy accidents around the house, even with the 3 minute setting. Once I ran out of the supplied solution I just used the Enzyme-based carpet shampoo we already had in the closet. Even faint old barf stains were completely erased using the SpotBot.
Clean up is simple. Just dump the dirty solution and rinse the container. The box says you can even store unused solution in the 'clean' tank, but I recommend you pour that back into the bottle and rinse off the rubber seals so they don't fall apart down the road.
Overall, I am very pleased with the SpotBot. As a gadget junkie I have to say its priced right for the amount of effort it saves me. As an added benefit, it even leaves crop circles on the carpet to confound the wife and neighbors (easily removed by brushing the carpet.)
Friday, February 24
Glimpses of 19th Century America
Short movies, many taken by Thomas Edison, of America at leisure, 1894 - 1915. Nice to see that they really weren't as stiff as in those old photographs!
illwillpress.com's USER AGREEMENT
Thursday, February 23
ABC has given a green light to the SF anthology TV series Masters of Science Fiction, which will present works of well-known authors such as Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov
VideoSift brings you the best of GoogleVideo and YouTube. You vote on the videos that you like, and the good videos are sifted to the top of the page.
Wednesday, February 22
Gamasutra Soapbox - "World of Warcraft Teaches the Wrong Things"
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Scott Sigler's Earthcore:
Mysterious Universe, a weekly program dedicated to bringing you the latest news from beyond the mainstream. From future science, ancient history, and the paranormal to the UFO phenomenon, join us in taking an alternative look into the Universe around us.
Tuesday, February 21
Leo has a new daily podcast, co-hosted by gadget guru Dick DeBartolo, called GizWiz
"We were called back because there was a gooey substance, a tarry-type substance, coming out the underground electrical vaults, out of manhole covers in the street, through the sidewalks and possibly in one older apartment building"
Monday, February 20
Howstuffworks "How Quicksand Works"